Better Pick Nick!

My Promise to Ward 6

Like many cities across Canada, Windsor has struggled with affordability. Like many cities, Windsor has not gotten as much support and funding from the federal and provincial government it needs, and so has become stuck in a cycle of "The Way We Do Things."

New Perspective and taking stock

City Hall has tried its best to keep things affordable for many years. To avoid raising property taxes, they've cut public services to keep costs down but in the end have had to raise taxes anyone. Then they looked for more things to cut, and now the city clerk has said there's nothing left to cut. If we stick to the same "Way We Do Things" then next year we'll see a budget that will raise our taxes anyway, having already cut the services that make life easier and our city more liveable.

I reject this cycle.

There are ways that the city can raise more money with what it already owns. Raising taxes is not the only resort left. I am proposing that the city create a Public Wealth Fund.

This would be a city-owned company like Enwin that would manage the city's commercial and vacant property. Places like vacant land, parking lots, or houses in disrepair that the city owns. The company created by the Public Wealth Fund will be given the mission statement of making as much long-term money for the city as possible with this commercial and vacant property. This can be through selling, leasing, partnering with developers, or direct management by the Fund when and where it makes the most sense. Having this be a holding company instead of a city department will allow the Fund to take politics into consideration, but in the end make these financial decisions with their mission statement of long-term moneymaking their key priority. According to data available through Windsor's Geographic Information System, the City of Windsor owns 974 vacant lots, and Council is currently in the process of expropriating 45 derelict homes which will become city property. This is property that should be managed from one place and with a clear mission statement. Social property such as libraries, community centres, and other public facilities should not be put under the Fund and should continue to be directly managed by the city.

Now is the time to talk about how we can do more with what we have.

Now is the time to talk about cleaning up our finances so we don't get a failing grade on financial and administrative transparency every year and shrug it off as "The Way We Do Things."

Now is the time to talk about investment in our community and how the city can work with other levels of government. Recent calls for a new weather station in Essex to better predict extreme weather events is one example of an investment that will need intergovernmental support.

Now is the time to talk about ways to keep our families safe. Peace, order, and good government are the guiding principles in our constitution, and its a crucial responsibility of City Hall and our local democracy as well.

Safety can take many forms. It can be making sure there's proper after-hours lighting on our streets and in our parks. It can be maintaining our pest control program to prevent the spread of disease and protect our furry friends. It can also mean keeping up to date on our flood prevention policies and emergency response to extreme weather events, and we sure have seen plenty of those this summer, be it heat, smog, or storm.

Safety can be getting the homeless of the street and properly supported by partnering with trusted and proven community partners who have tried and true cost efficient methods. Safety can even be earmarking police funding to areas of improvement within the existing police budget, and continuing to support causes that matter for protecting residents like the new Windsor Police campaign to fight human trafficking.

You can find more details in my platform, which I can the ACE Plan, standing for Affordability, for the Community, and for Engagement with the people - that's you!

We've seen areas of improvement in Windsor and there are things to be hopeful for. At other times City Council has had to make the best of bad situations while carrying forward a vision of Windsor's future. But I also believe that New Perspective and new energy is needed to help carry out that vision and stop things from being weighted down by "The Way We Do Things."

Some of these topics I mention above are already being talked about, but others aren't being talked about nearly enough or at all, and we should take the lead to bring those conversations forward.

And so my promise to Ward 6 is to fight for the people of the ward and of the city, and to fight for these principles every day if elected, and to work with the rest of Council to carry those principles forward. It's only together that we can bring our city onward and upward, and so I ask for your support.

See you out there!

Nick